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IgNITE is Project Pulse Ottawa's First Ever Science Case Competition

Project Pulse Ottawa is proud to announce that alongside its second conference, Project Pulse Spark, it will also simultaneously host its first ever science case competition.

To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old problems from a new angle, requires creative imagination and marks real advance in science.

— Albert Einstein

How does it work?

This competition is open to students currently attending high school or an undergraduate program at no cost for registration. We ask that you please register in teams of 2 to 4 students.

Once registration closes on January 26th, we will release a case package containing several case studies, all of which fall under a broad theme associated with a current issue in the field of Health Sciences. These case studies are simply ways for you to begin thinking of ideas to either:

a) provide a solution for an aspect of the theme, alongside a proof of concept, or

b) create a research methodology to further the scientific community's understanding of an aspect of the theme.

Your team is required to submit a research proposal which addresses either (a) or (b) in a creative manner. Remember that you are developing a methodology to test a hypothesis; your idea, no matter how innovative, must have a scientifically sound background.

The Judging Criteria

The exact judging criteria will be released along with the case package. We will be looking for submissions that are creative, scientifically sound, and effectively communicate the idea of the proposal. The top 10% of the teams of the highest scoring proposals will be asked to attend the Project Pulse Spark Conference on March 5th, where they will give a 5 minute powerpoint presentation of their proposal to a panel of judges followed by a 5 minute question period. At the end of the conference, the highest scoring team in both the proposal and presentation will be announced as the winner of IgNITE 2016 and will be awarded $500 (this value may increase approaching the submission deadline).

The Schedule

January 26th at 11:59 pm: Registration deadline for teams interested in participating and case competition package is released

February 18th at 11:59 pm: Research Proposal Submission Deadline, you have 3 weeks to complete it

February 26th at 11:59pm: Top 10% of the teams with the highest scoring proposals will be announced

March 5th: 5-minute presentation and question period where the winning team will be announced